Updated on
Summary Asian stock markets fell Tuesday as new concerns emerged about the Europe's debt crisis.
Benchmark oil fell to near $92 a barrel. The dollar rose slightly against the yen, a day after jumping about 5 percent following Japans move to buy dollars and sell the strong yen to protect its exporters.Japans Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.4 percent to 8,859.21. Hong Kongs Hang Seng lost 1.4 percent to 19,584.69, and Australias S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent to 4,232.90. Benchmarks in Singapore, India and Indonesia were also down.South Koreas Kospi gained 0.1 percent to 1,911.39. Key indexes in Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand also rose.Wall Street tumbled Monday, with confidence shaken by the collapse of the brokerage house MF Global. The securities firm filed for bankruptcy protection after it was downgraded by ratings agencies for holding too much European debt.The companys collapse startled investors already nervous that the United States with an economy growing at the slowest pace since the end of the Great Recession is in danger of falling back into recession.The Dow Jones industrial average spiraled down 2.3 percent to close at 11,955.01. The S&P 500 fell 2.5 percent to 1,253.30, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.9 percent to 2,684.41.Meanwhile, surveys showing Chinas manufacturing remained sluggish in October also weighed on investor sentiment. Hong Kong-listed GOME Electrical Appliance Holdings, Chinas largest appliances retailer, fell 5.8 percent. Anhui Conch Cement Co. fell 3.6 percent.Chinas biggest steel company, Baoshan Iron & Steel Ltd., lost 0.4 percent.Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp. tumbled 4.5 percent, a day after reporting a quarterly loss and projecting a huge annual loss due to slumping TV sales and a strong yen.Australian retailer Harvey Norman fell 3.7 percent after the company reported a drop of almost 20 percent in pre-tax earnings in the three months to September.In energy trading, benchmark crude for December delivery was down 82 cents at $92.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slipped 13 cents to settle at $93.19 in New York on Monday.The euro fell to $1.3804 from $1.3924 late Monday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 78.07 yen from 78.05 yen.
